Billboard framing and blanking means



Aug. 6, 1940. s. CHASE, 4TH

BILLBOARD FRAMING AND BLANKING MEANS Filed Jan. 23

INVENTOR. Y fizgv zezzgfl/j aeg ATTORNEYS.

Aug. 6, 194a.

s. CHASE, 4TH 2,209,957 BILLBOARD FRAMING AND BLANKING MEANS Filed Jan.23, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR.

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 6, 1940 UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE- Stephen Chase, IV, Kenilworth, Ill. 7 ApplicationJan'uary..23, 1939, Serial No. 252,338

6 Claims.

vision of such a display means of a characterv which may be producedvery economically, and

installed at low cost on bill boards of various. types and sizes, andwhich may be employed effectively to improve the appearance of theinstallation and at the same time decrease the cost of maintaining it byeliminating any necessity for wooden or other types of frames or borderswhich require periodic painting.

Another object of the invention is the provision of such a display meanswhich may be mounted upon a billboard or the like by use ofinstrumentalities commonly employed in bill posting, in such a fashionas to form, in appearance, an efiective border or frame that will givethe installation desirable aspects of finish, neatness andsubstantiality.

Yet another object is the provision of sucha display means which may beproduced in quan- 5 tities at low cost per unit of area and in a formand character such as to facilitate its installation and permit itsbeing securely retained in place on billboards and the like by adhesivesof the kinds commonly employed in bill posting.

Other and further objects of the invention will be pointed out orindicated hereinafter, or will be apparent upon an understanding of theinvention or its employment in practice.

For the purpose of aiding in an explanation of v the invention, Iillustrate in the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification, and hereinafter describe, certain forms and manners inwhich the invention may be embodied --and practiced. It is to beunderstood, however, that these are presented merely by way of example,and hence are not to be construed in any fashion for the purpose oflimiting the appended claims short of the true and most comprehensivescope of the invention in the art.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front or .elevational view, slightly in perspective, of abillboard installation which includes as a part thereof framing meansconstituting the subject matter ofthe present invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail, in the ,nature of a front view of a corner portionof a border or frame formed of combined framing and blankingstripsconstituting the subject matter of this invention;

Fig. 3 is an illustration si-milarto Fig. 2 but showing the strips of asomewhat different character; Fig. 4 is a detail, in-perspective,illustrating a rolled margin strip in accordance with the invention andserving toillustrate one manner-in which it may be manipulated forapplication to a billboard; v

Fig. 5 is a perspective View of a printing or lithographing cylinderwhich, may be employed for printing margin strips in accordance with themethod constituting part of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammaticillustration of printing or lithographingapparatus and associated elements such as may be employed for producingmargin strips embodying the present invention;

and I Fig. 7 is a surface view of a portion of a web'of paper or thelikewhich has been printed or lithographed to produce my improved marginstrips in multiple and serving to illustrate the product in anintermediate or unfinished state. As indicated above, the inventionpertains generally to display posting, as for example the advertisingdisplays or the like which are posted on billboards, and itis to beunderstood that when I hereinafter refer tobillboards, the term is to beregarded as including not only instal lations built originally andspecifically for that purpose, but also those which have been adapted tothat use, though originally or primarily made for other purposes, suchas walls, etc. However, the present invention is concerned definitelywith such posting displays which are of large size, as for exampleoutdoor billboards which generally are of dimensions of the order of 25feet by 11 feet.

The display space afforded by such billboards is customarily rented bythe proprietors thereof to' persons who wish to use it for displayingposters, most commonly designed as advertisementsof commodities, events,etc. The advertisers customarily furnish the posters which are to bemounted on the billboards, and the mounting or posting is done by stillother individuals or concerns whose services are employed for thatpurpose. Of course, in addition tolocation, the general appearance andcharacter of bill boards is an important factor in rendering themdesirable from the standpoint ofthe advertiser and hence consistentlyremunerative to their proprietors and, moreover, the character andneatness of their appearance are matters of public concern. Asaconsequence; for the purpose of contributing to theappearance-ofbillboards, the proprietorshave restorted to various" expedients such asthe provision of wooden frames or borders around the area upon which thedisplay posters are mounted. Such wooden borders, however, are subjectto deterioration by the elements and, when made of wood or metal, areexpensive to maintain because of the necessity of painting themperiodically.

The present invention eliminates the necessity for such wooden orpermanent borders or frames, and at the same time affords means formaintaining a higher and more consistent standard of appearance inbillboard installations, but at a substantially lower expense.

The nature of the invention will now be described by reference to theexamples shown in the drawings, in which it is to be observed that Fig.1 represents a billboard installation comprising a relatively rigidfoundation member, in the nature of a wall or the like, which affords aplane surface upon which a poster I0 is pasted. As seen in this figure,the poster is displayed within a rectangular frame or border, whichgives the display a finished appearance and contributes to theinstallation an aspect of stability.

It is with this frame that the present invention is primarily concerned.

For forming this frame, I provide what will hereinafter be referred toas margin strips, which are strips of poster paper of any of the kindscommonly used for billboard posters or the like, or other suitable sheetmaterial. These strips are of substantial width, for example, of theorder of twenty-six inches, and may vary as to length. In Fig. 1 theyare represented as top and bottom strips designated by the referencenumeral l2, and end strips designated by the reference numeral l2. Uponareas of suitable width adjacent one margin, the strips are printed orlithographed with a border portion In of a character such as torepresent a molding or a portion of a frame, which printing may be suchas to give said portion the appearance of being raised or embossed, orof cove or other form. The balance of the width of the strips is leftblank, or may be tinted or decorated in other appropriate fashion, toafford blanking'areas I222. The various different sections, such as thetop and bottom strips l2 and the end strips l2, may all be sections ofwhat was printed originally as a continuous strip or web and, in orderto form the frame for the billboard display, these strips are pastedonto the plane wall or surface of the foundation member or other stripsor sheets which previously may have been mounted upon it and whichremain securely in place. Consequently, when reference is made to thefoundation member or wall portion, it is to be understood that the termis to include also such additional layer or layers of paper or the likeadhering to them and affording a suitable surface and place ofattachment for the margin strips and poster. In order to facilitate thepasting up of the various parts, and to form the corners of the frame,the top and bottom strips may be posted up first on the foundationmemher, and the end strips may be mitered or cut off at a 45 diagonal attheir ends and overlapped upon the end portions of the top and bottomstrips, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Of course, this procedure may bereversed, viz., the end strips l2 posted up first, and the top andbottom strips mitered and pasted over their end portions. This postingup of the margin strips may be accomplished by use of the kinds ofpaste,

brushes, etc., which are commonly employed for bill posting. The printedor lithographed margin strips, however, have certain characteristics,which will be pointed out in connection with the following descriptionof a method of manufacturing said strips.

The border area or frame-simulating portions of the margin strips areprinted or lithographed from suitable printing members which areengraved or etched so as to produce the desired design in simulation ofa frame portion or the like, and inks of a kind customarily used for theprinting or lithographing of display posters may be employed. For theprinting or lithographing of posters which are designed to be exposedoutof-doors, it is customary to use inks which have certainwater-repellent characteristics. Inasmuch as it is necessary or mostconvenient, in the posting up of the margin strips, to overlap portionsof the printed border, as at the mitered corners of the frame or atplaces where sections of the strip may be joined, it is of importancethat the printed border portion be of a character such that the pasteWill adhere to it, in order that the superimposed strip portion may besecurely pasted up. Accordingly, in preparation of the plates orprinting members from which the border portions are printed, in caseswhere water-repellent inks are to be used, the design is produced byengraving or etching in such a fashion as to leave a substantialproportion of the area comprised within the design free, orsubstantially bare, of ink. This may be accomplished by employment ofvarious sorts of engraving or etching technique in such fashion as toproduce an appearance of continuity or solidarity in the printed design,with the proper shading to give the aspect of raised, embossed orrecessed contour, but at the same time leave a substantial proportion ofnon-inked surface dis tributed across the area on which the designappears. One fashion in which this may be accomplished is by a lineshading, such as is exemplified generally in Fig. 2, wherein the ink isapplied in separated areas each of limited width and so arranged as toproduce the desired sur- L face contour aspect, but with non-inked, orsubstantially bare, areas of the paper between the inked areas. Anothermanner in which the desired results may be obtained is illustrated inFig. 3, wherein the inked areas are arranged in a manner of stippling,varied in density or color in such fashion as to give the desiredcontour effect, but with a substantial proportion of the surface of thepaper Within the border area bare or devoid of ink. Various other typesof technique may be employed to like effect, the desired orcharacterizing result being that within the area of the printed designitself, there are left distributed non-inked areas which represent asubstantial proportion of the area of the design. Accordingly, whenwater-repellent inks are used for the printing of the design, thesedistributed bare areas remain in condition for effective adhesion of thekinds of Water paste generally used in bill posting, thus making itpossible to affix superimposed strip portions securely by that means. Inthis fashion it is made possible to post up the margin strips on thebillboard by use of the same kind of paste and instrumentalitiesemployed for the posting up of the poster, and to permit a fresh frameto be installed by the bill posters at the time each new poster is putup. Of course, the colors and designs of the borders may be selected tomatch or properly harmonize-with or contrast with the colors, designsand subject matter of the posters in respective postings.

For purpose of economy I prefer to print the margin strips from acontinuous web or long strip of paper, and to facilitate that operationI form the printing or impression members as cylinders or cylindricaltubes, such as illustrated for example in Fig. 5. These are engraved ontheir peripheries so as to form a continuous or uninterrupted printingface effective to print the design or portions of the design, as acontinuous streak or stripe. For the purpose of obtaining desired depthshading effects or other characteristics in the printed design, aplurality of printing members may be employed to apply differentportions of the design to the web, one after another.

In order to render the operation still more economical, I prefer toprint the margin strips in multiple, so as to produce the border design,or a portion thereof, in duplicate with the outer marginal portions ofthe two designs in adjacent relationship on the web. Accordingly, whenprinted in this fashion, the printed web will be of the characterillustrated in Fig. 7, viz., with two juxtaposed frame portions I211running longitudinally of it and with blanking" portions 12b extendingoutwardly therefrom toward the web margins, forming, in effect, marginstrips conjoined along the line a:a:. After. being thus printed, the webis fed to a cutter 26 which severs it longitudinally along the line:ra:, thus separating it into the two margin strips, and these proceedto respective reels 2'! on which the strips, or appropriate lengthsthereof, are wound into rolls I211. of the desired size.

Of course, the margin strip sections need not necessarily be wound intorolls, as they may be folded, if desired. However, the roll arrangementis of greater convenience in most instances, as it facilitates thehandling and application of the margin strips. One fashion in which suchstrips may be applied to the billboards from a roll is illustrated inFig. 4. In this procedure, a roll I2n is placed on a spindle 30 which,with a suitable support 3! for the roll, is carried on a handle 32.After paste has been applied to the proper area of the billboard, asalong its upper marginal portion, the roll is elevated by means of thehandle, the strip pressed against the prepared portion of the billboardand then unrolled lengthwise thereof against the pasted area, and theunwound portion of the strip torn off from the roll when the end of thebillboard is reached. Then the detached portion, which is held by thestill wet paste on the billboard, is smoothed down by means of a brushin the customary fashion. A more detailed description of the manner ofinstalling or applying the margin strips in the billboard installationis described in my copending application Serial No. 252,339, filed oneven date herewith. Following the posting up of the margin strip to formthe frame as there described, the poster I0 is posted up, its marginalportions being overlapped and pasted against the inward portions of theblanking areas l2b of the margin strips.

For the purpose of facilitating the accurate matching of portions of theframe or border design where sections of the margin strips are joined toone another, as for example at the miter portions I20, it is desirablethat the border or frame design be printed on the paper in suchrelationship that it runs longitudinally with the grain of the paper.This is due to the fact that when wet with paste and manipulated withthe posting brush, various papers are prone to stretch considerably in adirection transversely of the grain of the paper, whereas the stretchlongitudinally of thegrain is comparatively slight. Accordingly, byhaving the frame or border running longitudinally of the grain, theopportunity for stretching, which would be considerable in a long strip,is minimized.

From the foregoing it will be ascertained that the novel margin strip orcombined framing and blanking strip, forming the subject matter of mypresent invention, effect substantial economies in billboardinstallation maintenance, and affords means for eifecting verysubstantial improvement in their appearance, at a substantial saving inexpense, and that said strip is of a character facilitating its beingproduced very economically and in a condition such that it, includingportions 0 which may be superimposed, may be securely maintained inproper relationship in a billboard installation by a paste of the sortcustomarily employed for mounting posters in such installations.

I claim:

1. Means for framing posters or the like on billboards, comprising astrip of paper having a border area along one margin thereof printed tosimulate a moulding portion of a poster frame and having a blankingportion of substantial width contrasting in appearance with said borderarea and extending alongside it and between it and the opposite marginof the strip to simulate a mat portion associated with the mouldingportion, said strip being adapted to be affixed fiat upon a billboardsurface by means of paste.

2. Means for framing posters or the like on billboards, comprising astrip of paper having aborder area along one margin thereof printed tosimulate a moulding portion of a frame and having a blanking portion ofsubstantial width extending alongside said border area and between y itand the opposite margin of the strip and of an appearance contrastingWith the moulding portion, a substantial proportion of the paper surfaceWithin said border area being free of ink so as to enable a sheet to besecurely afiixed thereto by means of bill posting paste.

3. Means for framing posters or the like on billboards, comprising astrip of paper having a border area along one margin thereof printed tosimulate a moulding portion of a frame and having a non-printed blankingportion of substantial width extending alongside said border area and.between it and the opposite margin of the strip, a substantialproportion of the paper surface within said border area being free ofink so as to enable a sheet to be securely afiixed thereto by means ofbill posting paste and said ink-free parts within the border area beingdistributed throughout the same.

4. Means for framing posters or the like on billboards, comprising astrip of paper having a border area along one margin thereof printedwith water-repellent ink to simulate a moulding portion of a frameextending longitudinally of the strip and having a contrasting blankingportion of substantial width extending alongside said border area andbetween it and the opposite margin of the strip, said strip beingadapted to be afiixed flat upon a billboard surface by means of paste,there being portions in scattered distribution within the border areawhich are bare of waterrepellent ink so that a sheet may be securelyafiixed in overlapped position upon the border area by means of a waterpaste.

5. Means for framing posters or the like on billboards, comprising astrip of paper having a border area along one margin thereof printed tosimulate a moulding portion of a frame and having a blanking portion ofsubstantial width extending alongside said border area and between itand the opposite margin of the strip in simulation of a mat portionassociated with the moulding portion, saidstrip being wound into a rollwith the printed side thereof inside, so that the strip may be aflixedfiat upon the surface of a billboard, to simulate an extensive mouldingwith an associated mat, by rolling the roll along and in contact with aportion of such surface bearing moist paste, insuch manner as tounwindand press the strip against such surface.

6. Means for framing posters or the like on billboards, comprising astrip of paper having an area thereof printed with water-repellent ink 5

